About Us

Founded in 1829, the Metropolitan Police Service (the Met) is one of the oldest police services in the world.  From the beginning, the purpose of the Met has been to serve and protect the people of London by providing a professional police service. Despite the challenges we have faced recently, this remains our purpose.

Today, the Met is made up of more than 47,000 officers and staff, including thousands of volunteers.  With a budget of £4 billion it is the UK’s largest police force.  The territory served covers 620 square miles and is home to over 9 million people.  

London is unique. As the largest city in Western Europe, it is home to ‘the world under one roof’.  Its ever-changing population is one of the most diverse (culturally, ethnically and linguistically) cities in the world.

The complexities of policing a city on this scale are huge.  A seat of Parliamentary, Royal and Diplomatic power, London is also a focal point for protest and is a high-profile target for terrorist attack as well as being subject to the impact of wider national and international events.

There are over 300 languages spoken in London, and around 40% of the population are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. These numbers are predicted to grow further as the city expands and develops.  

The Met has over 34,000 of 140,000 police officers in England and Wales, almost 25% of all police officers, and polices over 15% of the England & Wales population across 32 Boroughs.

Taken together, this creates a unique policing environment.  Everyone joining the Met needs the ability to deliver outstanding policing to Londoners and must share our commitment to beating and preventing crime, and protecting our citizens, streets and communities. Further information on the Metropolitan Police Service can be found here. 

The Met: Our Commercial Journey 

Message from Director of Commercial, Mark Roberts 

"I joined the Metropolitan Police in December 2019 as Director of Commercial Services with the responsibility of ensuring both the Metropolitan Police and the wider UK Policing become more efficient in their delivery of value for money services and enabling the Metropolitan Police ‘to make London the safest Global city’. 

My role is the most senior commercial role in UK Policing and is accountable for the Metropolitan Police budget of £800m of annual expenditure and £250m of annual income. I have over 20 years’ experience in the implementation of award-winning strategic transformation programmes across both the public and private sector. Commercial services pro-actively manage all of the Met’s trading relationships and provide advice and support to enable Commands and Business Units to maximise value for the taxpayer.

Our commercial activity covers far more than procurement and buying goods and services as effectively as possible; we manage the commercial relationships with all outsourced suppliers, we maximise revenue from third parties, we generate income by leveraging our IP (Intellectual Property) and Assets, and we analyse spend to ensure we make best use of our scarce resources.

Maximising revenue and ensuring value for money from the Met's overall budget is our focus and this drives us to work with the business to define new ways of working that are more efficient, effective and affordable.

Like most organisations the Met is transforming the way we both police London and run the business in order to meet ever more, demanding challenges, Commercial Services is a key enabler of these changes."

A few words from the Met Commissioner

“We have a clear mission for policing London.  We will deliver More Trust, Less Crime and High Standards.  

Confidence in the Met has been falling, and I am proud to lead a leadership team that wants to turn this around. The majority of our people care deeply and want the same changes and their insight underpinned Baroness Louise Casey’s report that shed light on appalling examples of discrimination, the letting down of communities and victims and the strain faced by the frontline. While we take time to fully consider this report, it must act as a catalyst for police reform. 

We have formulated a draft Turnaround Plan which describes how we will achieve our mission. As part of this we are also absolutely determined to set our workforce up to succeed so they can deliver for London and are well supported, given their hard work to protect and serve 24/7 all year round. 

The Met is now, more than ever, fully focused on achieving excellence for London. With a clear mission and the right top team, the Met will renew policing by consent and I am grateful to you for considering becoming part of our Organisation. It will be a demanding period for all of us so I will need great leaders who are thoughtful, resilient and driven to achieve change.

You will need to be able to show that you understand the context of London and our communities. London is a fantastic place and we are incredibly proud to serve the people of the capital. It is a diverse, growing and ever-changing city with national impact and international reach. But the scale of our ambition for the future is even greater and more urgent. It has to be.”

Our Employees

Within the Met’s Executive Structure sits ‘People & Resources’ which comprises of multiple teams who focus on enabling and empowering our people to do their best for London, keeping London safe now and in the future. 
              
The teams that make up ‘People & Resources’ include: Finance, Property Services, Learning & Development, Human Resources, Shared Services and Commercial Services. In any organisation of this complexity and scale, a core team of experts provide the essential services that drive the organisation day to day and into the future.

‘People and Resources’ provide a range of services including recruitment, training, occupational health and wellbeing services, estate and facilities management as well as procurement and contract management. We look after our buildings, manage our budgets, and communicate to our people and the public. A key part of what we do is to support the Commissioner and Management Board in setting our priorities. We make sure they are well informed with robust insight that helps us focus on where we can make the biggest difference to London’s communities.

We make sure we gather, share and use data in the most effective way and within the information law. We support on developing sound stakeholder relationships that keep key policing issues on the agenda and forge productive partnerships.

Who are the Commercial Services team?

Here at the Met, we spend over £840 million each year on a diverse range of goods and services, from uniform and complex IT services, to response vehicles and forensics equipment. Managing that expenditure well enables us to make it go further, with better outcomes, underpinning the delivery of our service to London and beyond.

The Commercial Services team is working to deliver the following strategic aims:

• Maintain an ethical high performing commercial capability
• Deliver sustainable value through engagement with our suppliers, customers, partners and markets
• Improving and simplifying how we work
• Realising positive outcomes through commercial policy

Our commercial activity covers procurement where we buy goods and services as effectively as possible. We also manage the commercial relationships with all outsourced suppliers, working in partnership and through modern contract management practices. Additionally, we maximise revenue from third parties and generate income by leveraging our intellectual property and optimising the commerciality of our assets. We collect data and analyse our spend, as well as trends in all our markets. This ensures we make best use of our scarce and valuable resources.

The Commercial Services team is organised to work in partnership with the different business areas across the Met, providing excellent service to our internal customers and stakeholders. The team is made up of around 88 commercial colleagues (full strength), deployed into six different pillars aligned with our customers. These are:

• Corporate and Professional Services
• Counter Terrorism and Covert
• Enablement and Performance
• Operational
• Property
• Technology

Brand Values

Commercial Services Vision

• To be the most influential commercial function in the UK.

Commercial Services Mission

• To enable high standards, less crime and more trust by ensuring ethical, sustainable and innovative behaviours as we maximize social value opportunities for the citizens of London.

Commercial Services aspires to:

1. Provide ethical world class commercial expertise, advice and support throughout the lifecycle that delivers greater performance and value.
2. Foster healthy and diverse relationships, engaging effectively with suppliers, customers and partners to create value, access innovation and manage risk appropriately.
3. Ensure an ethical business environment that promotes access, transparency and collaboration for all participants in supporting the delivery of the Met strategy.
4. Be an inclusive and brilliant place to work, demonstrating commitment to the development of our colleagues, and continuous improvement in what we do and how we do it.
5. Promote a commercial culture across the Met and MOPAC by providing all the Met and MOPAC employees the resources and skills they need to achieve great commercial outcomes.
6. Enable the development of commercial capability across policing and our partners.
7. Embed Sustainability and Social Value practices in our commercial lifecycle and across our supply networks.

Why you should join the Commercial Services team?

By joining our team, you will get to:

• Be a part of an inclusive and friendly team who are committed to the development of every individual and strive to continuously improvement in what we do and how we do it.
• Develop yourself professionally, working with and alongside fellow professionals on a wide variety of projects and with stakeholders at all levels all focussed on the delivery of excellence in public service.
• Access bespoke commercial and leadership training to enhance your professional development and support your career pathway and enable you to be the best you can be in the job that you’re doing. 
• Contribute to an environment that promotes transparency and collaboration that is attractive to suppliers, delivers on the Met commitments, and maximises positive social impact.
• Provide world class commercial expertise, advice and support throughout the commercial lifecycle, from policy development to delivery, driving better performance, savings and commercial benefits.
• Foster healthy and diverse supply markets, engaging effectively with suppliers and partners to create value, access innovation and manage risk appropriately.
• Promote a commercial culture across the Met and MOPAC (Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime), and provide all Met employees with the resources and skills they need to achieve great commercial outcomes.
• Enable the development of commercial capability across policing and amongst our partners.
• Get involved with making London the safest global city in a time of unprecedented change within the UK's largest police service.

Read more about The Met's benefits here. 

Career Development

In addition to large-scale transformation within the Commercial team, there's the unique and ever-evolving challenge of policing London. This means that there are more opportunities for you to get involved with making London the safest global city in a time of unprecedented change within the UK's largest Police Service. The Met’s Commercial Function has an operating model outlined in its Blueprint, which provides both accountability for activities covering the whole commercial life cycle, as well as relevant business partnering responsibilities across the wider business and is regularly refreshed to reflect the external and internal factors which impact its effectiveness. 

You will provide essential commercial support to senior commercial staff within the Commercial team and the wider business, working on specific tasks within the category.

You will contribute to delivering commercial excellence for the Met, providing a customer focused service, understanding the business need and stakeholder drivers, with the aim of becoming a trusted commercial advisor. You will also support development of relationships with MPS’s key and strategic suppliers, driving value for money and risk management excellence across the category.

Our roles will enable you to develop your skills, experience and knowledge of business, commercial and procurement principles, processes and practices. It will also provide training opportunities for your continued professional development.

The Met Commercial Function is working closely with the Government Commercial Function as it seeks to increase commercial capability across the organisation. This role has been mapped to Commercial Specialist level, and the typical attributes of a role holder can be found in the government Commercial Function People Standards.